The Case for Containing, Not Coddling, Maduro
The inability of the U.S. to facilitate a return to democracy in Venezuela does not justify accommodating dictatorship in the name of engagement.
The inability of the U.S. to facilitate a return to democracy in Venezuela does not justify accommodating dictatorship in the name of engagement.
The lengthy odyssey surrounding the reactivation of Curaçao’s refinery is pulling the Dutch Caribbean island into a complicated matrix of geopolitics between the United States, the Netherlands, China, and Venezuela.
The territorial dispute between Venezuela and Guyana over the Essequibo region is a conflict that stretches back centuries, with its roots in the colonial era but with implications that extend to the present day.
The world should not dismiss aggression as impossible. Deterrence against a low-probability threat is cheaper than responding once aggression has begun.
Though the payoff may not be immediate, U.S. policymakers and the international community should continue to support measures, such as the recent sanctions-relief policy, that increase the odds of fostering Maduro’s worst fear: division and uncertainty within the regime.
La ganadora absoluta del 2023 ha sido el retorno de la ruta electoral como mecanismo de lucha por la democracia que en octubre ha recibido dos grandes espaldarazos. El 18 con la firma del “Acuerdo parcial sobre la promoción de derechos políticos y garantías electorales para todos” entre los representantes del gobierno de Nicolás Maduro y de la Plataforma Unitaria opositora en la ciudad de Bridgetown, Barbados. El 22 con la realización de las elecciones primarias opositoras.
The lessons from Guatemala echo loudly: even if free and fair elections are held, a transition of power is not a straightforward process. The international community’s role in facilitating an effective transition in Venezuela becomes paramount.
Lula’s work to create a de facto anti-U.S. illiberal alliance of Latin American leftist regimes and extra-hemispheric U.S. rivals further comes at a time in which those countries geographically closest to the United States—including Mexico, the Northern Triangle, and parts of the Caribbean—are moving away from political and security cooperation with the US, and toward a deepen embrace of the PRC.
When the international community listens, they often learn that the Venezuelan crisis—despite its scale—is drastically underfunded, and refugee- and migrant-led organizations are leading the humanitarian response.
All public policy, humanitarian support, investment efforts, state reforms should have a cross-cutting feminist perspective aimed at strengthening society.